Lana D. Harrison

An Effective Model of Prison-Based Treatment for Drug-Involved Offenders

A multistage therapeutic community treatment system has been instituted in the Delaware correctional system, and its effectiveness has captured the attention of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Justice, members of Congress, and the White House. Treatment occurs in a three-stage system, with each phase corresponding to the clients changing correctional status—incarceration, work release, and parole. In this paper, 18 month follow-up data are analyzed for those who received treatment in: (1) a prison-based therapeutic community only, (2) a work release therapeutic community followed by aftercare, and (3) the prison-based therapeutic community followed by the work release therapeutic community and aftercare. These groups are compared with a no-treatment group. Those receiving treatment in the two-stage (work release and aftercare) and three-stage (prison, work release, and aftercare) models had significantly lower rates of drug relapse and criminal recidivism, even when adjusted for other risk factors. The results support the effectiveness of a multistage therapeutic community model for drug-involved offenders, and the importance of a work release transitional therapeutic community as a component of this model.

The Validity of Self-Reported Data on Drug Use:

Surveys of drug use are continually criticized on the premise that respondents underreport the extent of their drug use. Validation studies conducted prior to the mid-1980s involving known samples of drug users or urinalysis techniques showed that drug use was fairly accurately reported in self-report surveys. However, more recent validation studies conducted with criminal justice clients using improved urinalysis techniques suggest less concordance between urinalysis and self-report. This paper reviews these studies and their implications for the validity of self-report in epidemiological drug surveys. Some general conclusions can be drawn from various validation studies. Valid self-reporting of drug use is a function of: 1) the recency of the event, 2) the social desirability of the drug, and 3) nuances of data collection methodology. The paper discusses methods used to improve the validity and quality of self-report data on drug use.

THE DRUGS–VIOLENCE NEXUS AMONG AMERICAN AND CANADIAN YOUTH†

This paper examines the relationship between drug use and violence among representative samples of students in the United States and Ontario, Canada. Canada has significantly lower levels of violent crime than the United States, but students report similar rates of drug use. Using logistic regression analysis, we find a similar relationship between drug use and violence among adolescents in the two countries. All the drugs considered—cannabis, cocaine, and alcohol binge drinking—are significantly related to violent behavior; whether the perpetrator or the victim. The most noteworthy difference may be that in Ontario, drug use appears to be even more highly correlated with violence than in the United States.

Understanding the Differences in Youth Drug Prevalence Rates Produced by the MTF, NHSDA, and Yrbs Studies:

This paper explores potential reasons for the differences in drug use prevalence rates among youth generated by three nationally representative surveys: The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, and the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBS). The MTF and YRBS are the most similar of the surveys, being conducted among students In a classroom using self-administered questionnaires. The NHSDA is conducted in the respondents household, but it has always used self-administered procedures for the drug questions. Nevertheless, the NHSDA generally reports the lowest drug prevalence rates for youth among the three surveys. There are a number of methodological differences across the surveys that cumulatively, probably account for the differences in estimates. Some of the differences appear to be due to telescoping, in that when a calendar was introduced to anchor past 30 day and 12 month time periods In the NHSDA, prevalence rates for illicit drugs were reduced. However, there is substantial similarity in the trends over time among the three surveys, especially for cigarettes, alcohol and cocaine. Many of the estimates generated by the three surveys have overlapping confidence intervals, which suggests the estimates are not statistically significantly different from one another.

INTRODUCTION: PROGRESS AND ISSUES IN DRUG TREATMENT COURTS

The first drug treatment court began in Miami, Florida in 1989, in direct response to the backlog of court cases for drug possession and trafficking. By mid-2001, there were 700 operational drug treatment courts and 400 more in the planning stages in the United States. In addition to providing an overview of the growth and development of drug treatment courts in the United States, this special issue examines their development in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The primary focus is the evaluation research conducted to date, which identifies some of the critical unresolved issues facing drug treatment courts.

Editors' Introduction: Evolving Insights into the Drug-Crime Nexus

(1998). Editors′ Introduction: Evolving Insights into the Drug-Crime Nexus. Substance Use & Misuse: Vol. 33, No. 9, pp. 1763-1777.

Self-Efficacy: An Important Aspect of Prison-Based Learning

Self-efficacy in academic settings is an established correlate of educational accomplishments with relevance beyond the classroom. It is a socially created propensity to view oneself as capable of responding to a range of life contingencies. We measure shifts in self-efficacy within prison-based courses that are modeled after the Inside–Out Prison Exchange Program. Courses include college students (outside) and people who are incarcerated (inside) learning together in a prison classroom. Inside students report lower levels of self-efficacy at Time 1 and an increase in self-efficacy by Time 2. Outside student levels of self-efficacy remain the same across time.

Cross-National Differences in Drugs and Violence among Adolescents: Preliminary Findings of the DAVI Study

The purpose of this paper is to describe cross-national differences in drug use and violence among three sites that vary in social and political culture and drug use policies—Philadelphia, Toronto, and Amsterdam. The DAVI (Drugs, Alcohol and Violence International) study is based on personal interviews with 1,120 adolescents aged 14 to 17 years from three sites and two samples (550 detainees and 570 dropouts). Seven drug use outcomes and three violence outcomes were compared across sites. We found that site differences were dominant. Only two of 10 outcomes (cannabis onset and relative drug-related violence) were not significantly related to site as a main effect or through an interaction. The most common site differences showed that the Toronto samples reported higher rates of drug use than Philadelphia and Amsterdam. Our findings indicate that drug taking behavior transcends geopolitical boundaries and that there is no clear evidence that rates of drug use are related to policy climate.

A comparative study of the influence of collective efficacy on substance use among adolescent students in Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal

The purpose of this study was to describe the differences in illegal adolescent substance use among representative samples of secondary school students in Philadelphia (N = 712), Toronto (N = 983), and Montreal (N = 824) and apply a novel theoretical perspective. Collective efficacy is a widely cited criminological theory that has not been applied to minor forms of delinquency such as underage alcohol use and cannabis use. We examined the influence of four measures of collective efficacy on substance use among students aged 14–17 years in these three cities. We found that adolescents in Montreal consistently reported higher prevalence of alcohol and cannabis use than those in either Toronto or Philadelphia, and these differences remained significant after controlling for compositional differences. We also found that collective efficacy has some theoretical and empirical merit in all three cities surveyed, as the component of neighborhood closure was associated consistently with adolescent substance use involving alcohol and cannabis. However, the other collective efficacy measures of social cohesion, parental closure, and child control were not significantly related to these forms of adolescent substance use and showed some interaction effects by site. Future research is needed to better understand the value of collective efficacy in explaining adolescent substance use, and should be applied to more serious forms of drug use and drug selling.

Integrating HIV-Prevention Strategies in a Therapeutic Community Work-Release Program for Criminal Offenders

The increasing number of drug-involved offenders under the supervision of the criminal justice system offers a unique opportunity for HIV risk-reduction intervention. This article discusses the HIV risk factors of a cohort court-ordered to attend a 6-month work-release drug treatment program. The treatment paradigm is the therapeutic community, and privileges and freedom increase as inmates progress through the program. Inmates are followed up at 6, 18, and 42 months after program entry, and their HIV risk behaviors are again assessed. Analyses show greater changes in risk behaviors in the treatment cohort compared to a cohort completing a similar work-release program without a treatment component.